There was no prospect of an improvement in the situation, although it was supremely humiliating to the Inquisition that it could not afford to burn those whom it condemned, promptly and on the scene of their transgressions, under the alternative of exercising a compulsory mercy. Some relief must be found, and a partial attempt was made, in a carta acordada of September 4, 1657, permitting effigies to be relaxed at autos particulares in churches. Toledo promptly availed itself of this by relaxing, December 9th, eight effigies of fugitives in such an auto,[650] but the other tribunals seem to have discountenanced the device. The further step, of overthrowing the traditional prohibition of uttering sentences of blood in churches, appears to have been under consideration in 1664, when the Suprema called on the tribunals for information as to relaxations in person or in effigy in autos particulares. In reply, Valencia reported that the sentence of Gaspar López, to be relaxed in effigy, voted in 1641, had never been published, for lack of an auto, although the corresponding sentence of confiscation had been executed--which the Suprema pronounced to be highly irregular.[651] It required time to familiarise the conscience with so revolutionary a measure, and the project slumbered for a quarter of a century, but the pressure to escape the burden of public autos increased, and the Suprema finally conquered its scruples. A carta acordada, of September 23, 1689, pointed out that, in view of the diminished resources from confiscations and of the increased cost of celebrating these public functions with due solemnity, they were avoided as far as possible, and it was no longer practicable to reserve for them the relaxed, whose numbers unfortunately were daily increasing. They had to be fed while lying forgotten in their cells, after their cases were finished; even the expense of transferring them from one tribunal to another was considerable, and it was kindly added that there was risk to their souls in detaining them so long while in ignorance of their fate. Weighing all this and, in view of the fact that there were cases of relaxation in churches both before and after the Instructions of 1561, and that the Council of Constance, sitting in the cathedral, had condemned Jerome of Prague, the Suprema reached the conclusion that judgement of relaxation could be rendered in churches, provided the sentence of the civil magistrate was uttered outside. The tribunals were therefore instructed that they could relieve themselves of their convicts in autos particulares in churches, delivering them to the secular arm outside of the sacred limits. To such autos the civic and cathedral chapters were not to be invited, and the rule as to time was to be observed, so that the burning could be performed by daylight.[652] [Sidenote: _AUTOS HELD IN CHURCHES_]